Adhesive compositions are used in many industries, such as the microelectronics industry, where good adhesion to metal and organic substrates and low viscosity for easy dispensability are important requisites.
Adhesion to metal and organic substrates is not always easily achievable, and the addition of silane adhesion promoters to adhesive formulations is one means of correcting this deficiency. Commonly used and commercially available silanes are small molecules that tend to volatilize significantly before the cure temperature of the adhesive is reached. Because silanes tend to be subject to hydrolysis, the addition of higher amounts of the silanes to offset the volatility could lead in turn to the presence of moisture in the adhesive compositions. This could be a problem in many applications. With reference to microelectronic devices, moisture creates the potential, through corrosion of circuits or voiding of the moisture and delamination of device packaging, for eventual failure of the device.
As a solution to these problems this specification discloses adhesion promoting resins with sufficient molecular weight to give lower volatility than the silanes currently commercially available.